Spanking instructor extradition sought

A Florida sheriff says he won’t rest until an Australian man accused of instructing the ‘‘spanking fetish’’ sexual abuse of two girls with a leather paddle is extradited to the US and sentenced to a lengthy jail term.

Pagoria was this week sentenced in a Florida court to 20 years in prison after doing a plea deal with prosecutors.

Lobban, from his home in Perth, gave detailed instructions to Pagoria on how to build a ‘‘spanking bench’’ and use a leather paddle to beat the girls to fulfil his and Pagoria’s sexual desires, authorities allege.

Pagoria allegedly videotaped the abuse and uploaded the videos to a website for Lobban’s review.

‘‘She spanked them and spanked them and spanked them without mercy,’’ Polk County sheriff Grady Judd, Pagoria’s former boss, told Tampa Bay’s ABC TV affiliate.

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US authorities issued a warrant for Lobban and he was arrested by West Australian police on July 16, 2011, in Perth, but Judd said Lobban has waged a long legal battle to fight extradition attempts.

‘‘He’s got lawyers, he’s fighting us,’’ Judd said.

‘‘That’s okay. He’s sitting in prison right now, where he needs to be, in Australia.’’

Pagoria, like Lobban, faced a minimum mandatory jail sentence of 25 years, but she agreed to the plea deal before the case went to trial.

As part of the deal, Pagoria must testify if Lobban stands trial.

Judd said Pagoria was an excellent employee during her six years as a detention deputy.

‘‘What we didn’t know is she had a deep dark secret, and that was she was into the dominant, submissive fetish, and the spanking fetish,’’ Judd said.

The victims told authorities Lobban was very involved in their ‘‘punishment’’.

‘‘You’re not going to hide on the other side of the world and sexually batter our children and sexually abuse our children without going to prison,’’ Judd said, in a warning to Lobban.

In her deal, Pagoria pleaded no contest to counts of aggravated child abuse, lewd or lascivious battery and using a child in a sexual performance.

After serving the 20 years, Pagoria will be on probation for another 20 years.

Lobban was arrested in Australia on a Polk County provisional warrant for two counts of promotion of sexual performance of a child, two counts of solicitation to commit aggravated child abuse by malicious punishment, and two counts of solicitation to commit lewd/lascivious battery on a victim aged between 12 and 16 years.